


Mistaken Identity

by setmeonfireplease



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avatar Zuko (Avatar), I am not sure how I'm gonna take this ship wise lol, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25664320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setmeonfireplease/pseuds/setmeonfireplease
Summary: The Avatar is not who they thought it was
Relationships: kataang
Comments: 6
Kudos: 66





	1. Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took down the original and I'm rewriting it so if it seems familiar that's why lol

As Zuko sat in front of the tied up Avatar, he wondered what Lu Ten would think. Lu Ten was loyal to the throne, as any good soldier should be. He put the Fire Nation above all. Even his own life. But he was kinder than he was loyal, with a sweet smile and a soft spot for kids. Would he feel pity for the Avatar? Would he disapprove of Zuko’s desperate hunt for him? After all, Aang was only a child. A hell of a powerful bender, but a child nonetheless. He was so small, shorter and skinner than even Zuko. One might have even mistaken him for frail. Would Lu Ten have made that mistake?

 _No,_ Zuko thought. _Lu Ten never made such stupid mistakes. He wasn’t you._

Aang’s arrows and eyes glowed brightly, shedding some light in the dim cave. The winds outside howled violently. Zuko sighed. His uncle was going to kill him for getting lost in such a storm - if the cold didn’t off him first, that is. He couldn’t stop shaking. Even his dragon’s breath wasn’t warming him as it should. He settled against the hard, cold wall of the cave as he stared at Aang. He had been like this for nearly an hour since Zuko had snuck up on him in that little garden. He could just hear his uncle now.

_Where is the honor in kidnapping a helpless, meditating young boy?_

At times, Zuko got the feeling that his uncle didn’t want him to actually capture the Avatar. He never dwelled on it, however, because that was crazy talk. That was the talk of traitors, and Iroh was no traitor. Sure, he had given up at Ba Sing Se, and he didn’t return home for nearly a year and a half - but that was the grief of losing Lu Ten that fueled his actions, not a hatred for the motherland. How could anyone hate the Fire Nation? It was the greatest place in the world. Zuko missed it so much he could feel his insides knotting painfully every time he thought of home.

Zuko straightened as the glow of Aang’s tattoos slowly faded, darkening the cave considerably. His eyes snapped open suddenly, startling Zuko. The Avatar had awoken once more.

He struggled for a moment to get up. He seemed to realize he couldn’t, though, because he soon settled. He looked down at the ropes that bound him before sighing. Zuko could see the breath as it escaped his mouth. He hated that he found pleasure in seeing Aang tremble from the cold, just as he was. His mother would disapprove of such pettiness. They were silent. It was deafening.

 _If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends too?_ Aang had asked him once. Zuko was ashamed to admit how often he thought of this question. How often he dreamt of a life with friends. Of a life without war. It was more of that crazy traitor talk that being away from home for so long had instilled in him. The war was necessary.

“Why are we here?” Aang asked, breaking the heavy silence. Zuko nodded his head towards the blizzard storming outside the mouth of the cave. Aang shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. Why are _we_ here? Why are you so obsessed with capturing me?”

“Capturing you means I can finally go back home,” Zuko said simply. His stomach twisted in a familiar way. How his heart ached for home.

“Why? Why not just kill me like the rest of my people?”

“Killing you would just cause you to be reborn. Then there’ll be a whole other Avatar to track down. The Fire Nation’s success would always be in danger. My grandfather was blind. He couldn’t understand this. He always said ‘there’s no such thing as a threat that’s dead’. But my father understands. If we capture you - if we keep you locked up, there’ll be no threat. No other Avatar to worry about.” Zuko eyed Aang. “At least, not for your lifetime.”

Aang’s reaction was not what he expected. Zuko expected indignation. Anger, even. Instead, Aang’s expression was slowly morphing into one of shock. His eyes widened and his mouth formed the smallest _o_.

“You think I’m the Avatar?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. Zuko felt his pulse quicken. His face twisted into a glare.

“Stop playing games!” Zuko snapped. He was always such a hothead. His mother always gave him that disapproving stare whenever he had let his temper get the better of him. Even so many years later, it wasn’t hard to conjure the image in his mind. It did little to calm him, however. “I _know_ you’re the Avatar!”

“How?”

“W-what?” Zuko asked. The question threw him, causing his rising anger to settle some.

“How do you _know_ I’m the Avatar?”

Zuko shook his head. Aang was such a _child_. “I’m not playing your games!”

"I’m not playing a game!” Aang protested, before adding, “My games are a lot more fun than this, trust me.”

Zuko rolled his eyes and scoffed.

“I need to know!” Aang insisted.

“Why?” Zuko asked aggressively. Aang’s mouth opened and closed, reminding Zuko of a fish out of water. His thick, black eyebrows knitted together as he began to worry his bottom lip between his teeth. Zuko waited. While normally not all that patient, the blizzard outside meant that they had hours to kill. He could force himself to wait. For now. Aang looked back at Zuko, expression unreadable.

“I’m not the Avatar.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you have the time, please feel free to comment. If you want, ask me questions on my tumblr punk-rock-cry-baby. I hope you all have a wonderful day!


	2. Part Two

Zuko was going to explode. He could feel himself getting red in the face, reminding him of all the times Lu Ten would teasingly call him his ‘little volcano’. He always joked that when Zuko got angry, he would turn as red and hot as boiling lava. _You explode over nothing Zuko! You’re like a tiny little volcano!_ He would say with a contagious laugh. It was the kind of laugh that made Zuko feel as though he were in on the joke, and not the butt of it.

Growing up, Zuko had always thought it to be an exaggeration. Lately, he had begun to understand how accurate the comparison was.

“Stop that!” He ordered. “You can’t trick me!”

“I’m not trying to!” Aang insisted. His expression was so earnest. Zuko wanted nothing more than to smack it off of his face. “I’m just an Airbender!”

“That doesn’t even make any sense! How could you have survived for a hundred years if you weren’t the Avatar?” Aang grew silent. The look in his eye became distant and clouded. Just as Zuko began to feel a smug sense of victory wash away his frustration, Aang reluctantly offered up his explanation.

“I’m not the Avatar . . . Bohai was.”

“Who the hell is Bohai?”

Zuko swore he could see tears shining in Aang’s eyes, but before he could be sure of it, they shut close. Aang swallowed hard before taking a shaky breath. When he opened his eyes, there was no longer a shine to them. They were dry.

“Bohai was my best friend in the entire world,” Aang began. “We shared the same guardian monk, Gyatso, so we were raised like brothers. We spent every minute of every day together. Then the head monks told him he was the Avatar, and everything changed. There were rumors of war, so Bohai needed to begin his training immediately. They didn’t want him to be with me and Gyatso anymore. They said we were distractions. They wanted to separate us!”

Aang paused, screwing his eyes tightly shut once more. Zuko held his tongue. He was unsure as to whether he even believed Aang, but he needed to hear the rest of the story. Aang sighed, before opening his eyes and continuing.

“Bohai hated being the Avatar. It was too much responsibility. He didn’t want the weight of the world on his shoulders. So he came up with a plan. When he told me he was going to run away, I knew it was a bad idea. I knew Gyatso wouldn’t approve. But I was scared of losing my best friend. So I went with him. Bohai and I always got into so much trouble together, how was I supposed to know this was going to be any different?” Aang stopped talking for a moment and stared out at the storm. Zuko didn’t think he was watching the blizzard though. Not really, anyway. “I blame myself. Katara says I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it. The storm was so awful. Even worse than this. Even worse than the one we both got caught in a few weeks ago. I told Bohai we should go back, but he didn’t want to listen. I should have kept trying. I should have just made him! But I didn’t. When the wave hit, it was so big it dragged Appa under. Bohai used his bending to seal Appa and I into the ice. He sacrificed himself to save us.” Aang looked back at Zuko, that same earnest expression on his face. “That’s why you saw that light. It wasn’t my power. It was Bohai’s.”

Zuko was at a loss for words. His mind was reeling a mile a minute. He stood up and stared at the white ground. It was a lie. It had to be. He hadn’t spent the last two months chasing the wrong kid. He hadn’t wasted all that time. He couldn’t have. He just couldn’t. His hands were shaking violently, and no matter how hard he tried to still them, they wouldn’t stop.

“What about the glowing tattoos?” Zuko asked suddenly. He was desperately grasping at straws, he knew that. “What the hell is that about?”

“I can go into the spirit world,” Aang said nonchalantly.

“Only the Avatar can do that!” Aang raised an incredulous eyebrow.

“What are you talking about? Anyone can travel into the spirit world - well, not _anyone_. It’s more common with Airbenders,” Aang paused. A sad look crept into his eye. “It _was_ more common with Airbenders. The monks called it “the gift”. That’s why I was paired with Bohai. They knew I had it, and wanted me to be his spirit guide.”

Zuko swallowed, but his throat felt like sandpaper. His mouth had dried out completely. His right eye began to twitch. Was it possible Aang was telling the truth?

“I thought you knew all of this. Your uncle has the gift.”

Zuko gaped at Aang for a moment before quickly composing himself. “What? No, he doesn’t!”

“Sure he does. It’s obvious.”

“He would have told me!” Zuko insisted.

Aang shook his head. “I’m not sure about that. I don’t think his gift would have been well received by your people - no offense.”

Zuko paused. Aang was right. Most members of the Fire Nation court scoffed at stories of the spirits and their realm. He remembered always rolling his eyes when his uncle would regale myths and legends while growing up. He could almost hear Azula’s snide remarks when they would visit the colonies and see how deeply the locals revered the spirits. Why would Iroh have told him? For a passing second, Zuko felt distinctly guilty. He made quick work of pushing it away. He didn’t have time for that.

“Why would you come to the North Pole then?” He asked. “If not to master Waterbending, then why?”

“Katara is a Waterbender,” Aang said as though it should have been obvious. As though Zuko were stupid. Zuko’s glare was vicious. “The Fire Nation killed all the other benders in the Southern Water Tribe. I brought her here so she could finally learn from a real master.”

Zuko paced around the cave, trying desperately to come up with another question. He needed to disprove the claims Aang was making. Aang was lying. He had to be. This was just a last-ditch attempt to try and save his own skin. It wouldn’t work.

It wouldn’t.

It wouldn’t.

It _couldn’t_.

“If you aren’t the Avatar -” Zuko said finally, whipping around to face Aang. He took a step forward, pointing a finger at him as he spoke. “If you aren’t the Avatar, then who the hell is?”

Aang shrugged. “I don’t know! I was stuck in the ice for a hundred years! Katara told me that the Avatar after Bohai was a Waterbender girl. She was born to the Southern Tribe, and that’s why the Fire Nation attacked them so much. And then she told me that the Fire Nation killed the next one. He was an Earth Bender, right?”

Zuko nodded.

“So the current Avatar should be from the Fire Nation.”

It took all of Zuko’s self-control not to just pounce on Aang right then and there. He took a shaky breath before hissing out, “How _dare_ you say that? None of my people could ever be the Avatar! If they were, they would have turned themselves in and fought proudly for my father! For the throne! That’s what a loyal citizen of the Fire Nation does!”

Aang glared at Zuko. “I’m just telling you how the cycle works. Air, Water, Earth, Fire. _Your people_ killed the last two, so now it’s Fire’s turn. The cycle doesn’t change because of some war. And anyway, it doesn’t even make sense for me to be the Avatar. Yeah, I was in the ice, but I wasn’t dead. There couldn’t have been another Avatar while I was alive.”

The feeling that washed over Zuko was akin to the feeling he had while swimming in the turbulent water of the North Pole. It was cold and sharp. It cut into him like a knife. Zuko spun around and punched the icy wall of the cave. Despite the throbbing pain in his fist, he remained in that position. He didn’t dare move, for fear that Aang would catch a glimpse of the tears that quickly flooded his eyes. He had spent the last two years stuck in a wild goose chase, searching the other nations. Wasting time and resources. He was stuck in a race with no end in sight, a problem with no solution. No matter what he did, he would never find the Avatar. The Avatar was the one place he could not go. The Avatar was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thank you so so much for reading! If you have the time, feel free to leave a comment. My tumblr is punk-rock-cry-baby if any of you guys have questions or wanna talk lol. I hope you all have a wonderful day!


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